5/03/2011

Carrie Lofty


 Born in California and raised in the Midwest, Carrie Lofty met her English husband while studying abroad–the best souvenir! Since completing her master’s degree in history, she has been devoted to raising their two precocious daughters and writing full time. Her latest historical romance, Portrait of Seduction, is available now. Later this year watch for her new Victorian series from Pocket, as well as her “Dark Age Dawning” romance trilogy from Berkley, co-written with Ann Aguirre under the name Ellen Connor. “Historical romance needs more risk-takers like Lofty.” ~ Wendy the Super Librarian


Portrait of Seduction

Greta Zwieg forges masterpieces. With her copies on their walls and the original paintings safely hidden, the noble families of Austria can rest assured their treasures will survive Napoleon's advances. But now Greta’s uncle is changing the rules, selling her counterfeits as originals. Greta abhors the deceit. Anxious for her family's safety in a perilous time, she is nevertheless determined to put things right.

Oliver Doerger is living a lie of his own. Acting as valet for his aristocratic half brother, Oliver thwarts an attempt on Greta's life and is overwhelmed by the forbidden passion that flares between them. Although he's not truly a servant, he is a bastard and a spy--certainly no match for a woman of such exquisite quality.

Though both fear discovery, they cannot resist each other. When the truth comes out, and the city falls into chaos, Greta and Oliver will be forced to choose: love or duty?  

CAT:  What’s your favorite “love” word?
CARRIE:  “Adore” is my favorite love word! It can be sexual, romantic, sweet, platonic, caring, while also implying a level of obsession and exclusivity.

CAT:  What’s your favorite cartoon character?
CARRIE:  My favorites when growing up were split between Jem and Cheetara from “Thundercats.” To say I was a girl in search of strong female role models would be an understatement!

CAT:  Is there a playlist you’d recommend for reading your latest release?
CARRIE:  Absolutely! I always, always write with music, and I include the playlists in a jukebox on every excerpt page of my website. The playlist for Portrait of Seduction can be found here: Portrait of Seduction excerpt

CAT:  Die Hard or Die Harder?
CARRIE:  Die Hard! I watch it every Christmas. I can’t imagine choosing to go without Alan Rickman!

CAT:  What’s your favorite movie of all time?
CARRIE:  Aliens! Again, the female role model thing, yes? Ripley is still my hero. In fact for our pseudonym, Ann Aguirre and I chose to combine Ellen Ripley and The Teriminator’s Sarah Connor to form Ellen Connor (http://www.ellenconnor.com). Our homage to the toughest women in film! Nightfall, the first of co-written “Dark Age Dawning” trilogy of hot-n-dirty apocalyptic paranormal romance, comes out in June from Berkley Sensation.    

CAT:  What’s your favorite kind of story to get lost in?
CARRIE:  Of course it depends on my mood, whether I go for lush or playful, but I always need depth of character. I love tortured, deep protagonists who mend the little hurts in one another. That’s the essence of a romance to me, and it’s what I seek out when I want a story to take me away.

CAT:  What’s the first thing you do when you finish writing a book?
CARRIE:  Shower. Generally those last couple chapters are killer-fast. It’s like barreling downhill toward the finish. So things like housework, personal hygiene and sleep all go by the wayside. After that first draft is finished, I come out of my writing cave to clean up, sleep for 48 hours, and catch up on emails!

CAT:  What is something that not a lot of people know about you but you WISH more people COULD know?
CARRIE:  I used to compete as a Latin ballroom dancer in college, and I took up bellydancing after seeing U2’s “Mysterious Ways” on their ZooTV tour. Oh, and I danced with Bono on his 40th birthday!

CAT:  Do you read reviews of your books? If so, do you pay any attention to them, or let them influence your writing?
CARRIE:  My husband keeps a Google alert on my name and book titles. He forwards me the good reviews and random positive mentions. I’m convinced there’s never seen a bad review, right? Heh. It saves my sanity, frankly. Bad reviews have a way of being tattooed on my brain, so I don’t need that criticism hanging around forever. As with most writers, I have enough negativity to deal with on my own!

CAT’S GOTTA ASK:
If you were a t-shirt, what color would you be and why?
CARRIE’S GOTTA ANSWER:
Purple, because it’s the best of all colors.

GOT A QUESTION YOU’D LIKE TO ASK YOUR FANS?
I know it has nothing to do with books, but I tend to get too focused on reading and writing. Let’s step out of our little corner of creativity and look at the world of music. So…what’s your favorite song of all time?

Carrie has offered to give away a copy of PORTRAIT OF SEDUCTION as PDF or EPUB format.

Find Carrie at:




10 comments:

  1. Oh there is no way I can pick one favorite song of all time....Just like I could never pick a favorite book. It depends upon my mood at the moment what I want to listen to. I listen to everything including classical, country, pop, rap/hiphop, hard rock, metal, classic rock, etc...I like a variety. :D

    BTW, I agree with the tshirt color...Purple is definately the best color ever!

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  2. Welcome to GLIAS, Carrie!
    And congratulations on your sales.

    Favorite of all time or of the moment? Shoot...I can't even narrow it down to this month. Love music of all sorts. I really miss the sing-along videos that my kids outgrew years and years ago. LOL I'm stuck on ABBA right now because it's good "moving around the house" music. But John Denver's in the CD player in the car...his music helps calm me down during traffic. LOL

    ~~Angi

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  3. Hi Carrie! Welcome to GLIAS. I'm not sure I could choose my favorite song of all time. Or even a favorite artist. Maybe something from 'ole blue eyes. Night and Day. Fly Me To The Moon.

    Angi, I've driven my daughter crazy with the Mama Mia soundtrack. Love ABBA.

    Carrie, Your cartoon fav brought back memories. I remember watching Thundercats when I first moved to Florida back in the mid 80's. I was unemployed and all over the afternoon TV schedule.

    Thanks for being with us today!

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  4. Oh wow. Favorite song of all time... I never get tired of hearing The Mamas & The Papas California Dreamin'. I'm Generation X so it isn't even music I grew up with but I love it.

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  5. Can I just say that I really want to read this book. It looks really good and I just went and added it to my wishlist.

    My favorite song of all-time is If You Leave by OMD. I love this song and I can listen to it on repeat. Lazy Eye by The Silversun Pickups is a close second.

    iqb99@yahoo.com

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  6. From the movie Robin Hood from the early 1990's Brian Adams' Everything I Do, I do it for you. It gives me chills every time I hear this song.

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  7. Hi Carrie! Welcome to GLIAS...a little late :) Your story sounds AMAZING! I love historicals that are a little outside of the box, and a spy and a forger? I love it.

    Just got a Kindle for (early) Mother's Day...going to have to go out and search for Portrait of Seduction.

    As for a favorite song? I couldn't even pick a favorite genre...

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  8. Hi Carrie!

    Historicals are some of my favorites! Not sure I can pick a favorite song or composer but I write to Debussy! Right now I am listening to his ballet scores. Romantic, whimsical and very moving!

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  9. Great interview!

    Hmm hard to pick just one song, but one of my favorites is Storm by Lifehouse. I love the beginning with the soft music and just the singers voice.

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  10. Sorry I'm late to the party, everyone! It's teacher appreciation week here at my daughters' school, so I've been busy trying to coordinate events. *phew* Better late than never?

    Danielle, I had "If You Leave" playing today! I needed some nifty 80s tunes for the (finally!!) good spring weather. And LilMissMolly, "Everything I Do" as well as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves inspired my debut, WHAT A SCOUNDREL WANTS. I *had* to know what happened to Will Scarlet!

    I used the random number generator to choose a winner:

    StacieDM

    Congrats! Please contact me: contact@carrielofty.com and let me know which format you'd prefer (epub or pdf). Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by.

    Oh, and for anyone who's interest, my favorite song of all time is "Mad About You" by Sting. Can be heard here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAa3rU41dAw

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